Ranked Big Team Battle is Live in Halo 3

Sixteen player carnage in ranked form has arrived in Halo 3. Log in to matchmaking and hop into the Ranked Big Team Battle playlist to take it for a spin.

This week, Ranked Big Team Battle arrives in Halo 3’s matchmaking playlists. This playlist is an eight versus eight playlist with a focus on Slayer and objective games. Like Halo 2's Big Team Battle, there is a tilt toward Slayer gametypes.

Here’s a quick and dirty breakdown of what gametypes, maps and rules have been incorporated into the first release of Ranked Big Team Battle.

Bungie Podcast: Studio Manager Harold Ryan

With a freshly refurbished computer, Harold Ryan joins the Bungie Podcast to talk about what it's like herding the cats that make up Bungie Studios.

Bungie's equivalent of Xerxes, Studio Manager Harold Ryan, joins Sketch, Frank and Luke on this episode of the Bungie Podcast. Ryan talks about his lengthy career in games, all manners of games he likes (he's a recovering EQ addict) and what may or may not be in store for Halo 3's future.

[Update: The Podcast RSS feeds and ITunes should be updated. Zune users should also be able to access the Podcast on Zune Marketplace.]

Join the Official Bungie Podcast Group here on Bungie.net, where Frankie, Sketch and I will take your feedback, regurgitate it and feed it back to you. Have you missed one of the gajillion episodes of the Bungie Podcast? Check the Podcast Archive and catch up.

Video Games Live Announces a Mountain of Shows

Video Games Live, a cacophony of video game related music (including music from the Halo trilogy) announced 40 dates across the globe for its 2008 schedule.

Video Games Live, the brainchild of Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, is a concert series highlighting music from video games. Past musical arrangements have included everything from Space Invaders to Halo and this year, VGL will play 40 concerts with a variety of tour stops across the Americas and international shows in Brazil, China, Mexico and more. For complete show and date information visit the Video Games Live homepage.

Forge Hub Best of 2007

Halo 3 community site Forge Hub has announced their best maps of 2007 today in a variety of categories. If you're looking for the best of the best community generated Halo 3 content they've taken the guess work out of it. Head over and download 'em now!

There is definitely no shortage of great user created content out there for Halo 3 but it can be a bit overwhelming trying to sift through it and separate the good from the "less good." Lucky for us all that the community over at Forge Hub has compiled the best maps of 2007 into one handy list. Whatever gametype you enjoy, there's a custom map built to support it.

I'm looking forward to checking out these creations over the weekend and I encourage you to do the same.

Congratulations to all of the Forge Hub winners and a big THANK YOU to everyone out there who is making great content and helping to keep Halo 3 going strong.

Joe Staten's Dulcet Tones on NPR

Joseph Staten, author of New York Times Bestselling Halo novel Contact Harvest, was on NPR's All Things Considered; listen to the interview within.

Bungie's Writing Director and New York Times bestselling author Joseph Staten (for Halo novel Contact Harvest) was on NPR's All Things Considered this morning. Click the "listen now" button at this page to hear the interview and Joseph's sweet sounds.

Gamertag linking status on bungie.net

You may have heard that Xbox Live has been having a few issues over the last few weeks. While Microsoft has been working to improve the situation, one small side effect of the Live service delays can be seen on bungie.net. This involves your Gamertag linking to you bungie.net account.

Normally, bungie.net checks with Xbox Live and pulls down your Gamertag every so often to update your account's link status. While this data is cached, the cache eventually becomes stale. This means that during extended periods of slowness or downtime of Xbox Live's account services, your gamertag can possibly become unlinked for a time.

Don't panic if this happens - as soon as the connection to Live is re-established, your Gamertag will automatically get linked back up to your bungie.net account. And you can always use the Player Finder to manually look your gamertag up if this happens.

Thank you for your patience.

Update: We are aware that some file shares and screenshots are showing no items for people who get unlinked in the manner described above. Your data is not gone, and we're looking into the problem (it appears to be a UI issue at this point). It will correct itself automatically when everything is relinked as well.

Disrespectful Video Makes Outrageous Claims

This disgraceful video makes wild claims using very adult language and primitive speech synthesizers. If you are under 18, do not click the following link. If you are sensitive, do not click the following link. If you think grenade spamming is tactical, do not click the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb8rdc-0OpQ

Sarcasm is a form of humor whereby the proponent, in this case, Bungie - says something that at first examination appears to be contradictory or opposite of what is truly meant. In the case of this video, we promoted using the device of sarcasm, in an obvious homage to the parody and surreal humor contained within DigitalPheer's own video. I do hope this helps your future YouTube discussions.

Clantac Token Rewards for playing Halo Customs

Clantacular.com has released the first token-based rewards system for playing Halo 2 and Halo 3 Customs. This includes their existing "Halo 2 & 3 Ranked Clan Match System" as well as their just released "Ranked FFA and 1v1" system. Earn Clantac Tokens for playing clan matches, FFA's, 1v1's, tourneys and contests!

Clantacular.com has released the first token based rewards system for
playing Halo 2 and Halo 3 Customs. This includes their existing "Halo 2
& 3 Ranked Clan Match System" as well as their just released
"Ranked FFA and 1v1" system. Earn Clantac Tokens for playing clan
matches, FFA's, 1v1's, tourneys and contests!

What are Clantac Tokens? They are tokens given by Clantacular for winning ranked Halo 2 and Halo 3 clan match customs, FFA's, 1v1's, contests and a special token tourney. Members can trade tokens for services, tourney entry fees and so much more. In fact, they can pay each other in tokens for about anything; forum sigs, player for hire, training from popular players, even some clans pay their members for their loyalty!

Clantacular has already given away 160,000+ tokens for over 7000+ custom matches played! And plans on giving away 1 million tokens over the next few months!

Tokens are for entertainment purposes only, they are FREE and have no cash value outside of Clantacular's domain. This week they are giving away another 100,000 tokens in the contests!

New Comic Series at HaloBabies.net!

A brand new Halo-based comic series premiers today at HaloBabies.net! Created by long-time member, 2phast, Larry the Marine follows the adventures of three marines in the war against the Covenant, and anything else that crosses their path!

Be sure to check out the full announcment for an in-depth interview with the artists. Stay tuned to HaloBabies.net for more updates, comics, and contests coming in '08. Happy new year everyone! :)

Love is in the Air

Did you meet your true love playing Halo? Did you get a job using your Halo skills? Did you become president of a small country because you could pwn noobs? We're looking for real life stories of romance, adventure and social wonder directly related to your Halo experience. Read on!

Did you meet your true love playing Halo? Did you get a job using your Halo skills? Did you become president of a small country because you could pwn noobs? We're looking for real life stories of romance, adventure and social wonder directly related to your Halo experience. If this sounds like you, click the forum link at the bottom of the page and share your story.